Much of this liquor manufactured in the New Territories is for export and for Hongkong consumption.
VII. OPIUM.
From the 1st of March, 1914, the opium monopoly was taken over by Government, 6,781 taels of prepared opium and 560 taels of dross opium were sold during the ten months of Government management. The figures for the corresponding ten months of 1913 were given as 10,000 taels of opium and 350 taels of dross.
VIII. GENERAL.
Crops. Both rice crops were up to the average. The pineapple crop of Tsun Wan was good.
Fishing.-Fishing generally was very good though some of the larger junks were kept away through shortage of capital.
Salt pans.-There are now four salt pans working at Tai O; about eight hundred tons of salt were exported in 1914 at an average price of eighty cents per picul.
Cheung Chau. The prosperity of Cheung Chau was adversely affected by the difficulty of obtaining capital which prevented the shops from financing the fishing junks to the usual extent, and in consequence fewer of the larger fishing junks made the island their headquarters.
The slackness of trade is shown by the decrease of liquor duties from $20,500 in 1913 to $13,800 in 1914 and in junk and boat licence fees from $11,160 to $9,530.
On the other hand a new industry was started by the opening of a granite quarry on the island and there were considerable sales of Crown land during the year.
The new survey of the island was completed and boundary stones were placed and Crown leases issued for the foreign house sites.
The market established by local enterprise is running smoothly under the management of a local committee. Regulations under the New Territories Land Ordinance were passed to restrict the sale of fresh meat in the island to the market.
A plague isolation hospital is now under construction on a site granted by Government, the funds being subscribed by the Cheung Chau people who also on their own initiative opened a subscription list for the Prince of Wales' Fund.
Public Works.-Resumptions and reclamation at Ap Liu were continued but otherwise there were no public works of importance in the district.
S. B. B. McELDERRY,
Assistant District Officer, Southern District.
27th February, 1915.
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Much of this liquor manufactured in the New Territories is for export and for Hongkong consumption.
VII. OPIUM.
From the 1st of March, 1914, the opium monopoly was taken over by Government, 6,781 taels of prepared opium and 560 taels of dross opium were sold during the ten months of Government management. The figures for the corresponding ten months of 1913 were given as 10,000 taels of opium and 350 taels of dross.
VIII. GENERAL.
Crops. Both rice crops were up to the average. The pineapple crop of Tsun Wan was good.
Fishing.-Fishing generally was very good though some of the larger junks were kept away through shortage of capital.
Salt pans.-There are now four salt pans working at Tai 0; about eight hundred tons of salt were exported in 1914 at an average price of eighty cents per picul.
Cheung Chau. The prosperity of Cheung Chau was adversely affected by the difficulty of obtaining capital which prevented the shops from financing the fishing junks to the usual extent, and in consequence fewer of the larger fishing junks made the island their headquarters.
The slackness of trade is shown by the decrease of liquor duties from $20,500 in 1913 to $13,800 in 1914 and in junk and boat licence fees from $11,160 to $9,530.
On the other hand a new industry was started by the opening of a granite quarry on the island and there were considerable sales of Crown land during the year.
The new survey of the island was completed and boundary stones were placed and Crown leases issued for the foreign house sites.
The market established by local enterprise is running smoothly under the management of a local committee. Regulations under the New Territories Land Ordinance were passed to restrict the sale of fresh meat in the island to the market.
A plague isolation hospital is now under construction on a site granted by Government, the funds being subscribed by the Cheung Chau people who also on their own initiative opened a subscrip- tion list for the Prince of Wales' Fund.
Public Works.-Resumptions and reclamation at Ap Liu were continued but otherwise there were no public works of importance in the district.
S. B. B. McELDERRY, Assistant District Officer, Southern District.
27th February, 1915.
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